


oxygen

by bisque_doll



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Haikyuu!!
Genre: Don't Have to Know Canon, Gen, I Tried, I don't know how tags work, KageHina - Freeform, M/M, My First Work in This Fandom, Rated T for Safety, Stupidity, don't have to know canon but it helps, maybe iwaoi, maybe kagehina, maybe some other pairings but relatively like the series, the entire crew in a different way, well you might need to know a few things about avatar
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-06
Updated: 2016-01-01
Packaged: 2018-04-07 21:32:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,417
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4278663
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bisque_doll/pseuds/bisque_doll
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Kageyama, a firebender, gets kicked out of his pro-bending group, the last thing he wanted was a midget asking to do a combi with him. And what the hell was a combi, anyway?</p><p>Right, there was a saying for him, wasn't there. "Only idiots and smoke like high places."</p><p>(Takes place 2 generations after the Legend of Korra.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. it could be interesting

When Hinata had announced he wanted to go travelling, the Air Nomads were surprisingly supportive, which he didn't expect at all.

He had always known the Air Nomads were detached, which made him long for the world even more. They warned him with countless stories, but when he finally made his decision to get serious, they supported him whole-heartedly, as the pacifists they were. Even his mother and sister had bid him a safe trip and to visit sometime.

Which was even weirder, since when he originally told them, they had insisted on him staying. But after his mom talked to a council member, whenever he mentioned it to  _anyone_ , everyone seemed to be totally supportive.

That was fine with him, though.

He glided through the air on his trusty sky bison, watching the little cities and towns go by. One of the monks had recommended Republic City—a famous place that had huge landmarks and a lot of people. He was given a lot of tips (but remembered little) and he was sure it was a journey he was setting off on.

He looked down when he had found the city. "There! There! Land there, Tilit!" He said, addressing his flying bison while jumping up and pointing down, nearly pitching himself a three-hundred meter fall.

And with brightly-lit eyes and a rivaling smile, he and his sky bison descended.

* * *

It took him two minutes to get a good feel of how out of place he was.

When he landed, people stared at him and his giant sky bison. He thought there was something going on, and immediately asked where he could put his bison-manatee hybrid. Nobody responded. Thinking he would be undoubtedly fine, he sent him to stay at the gates, and that he would be back in an hour or so.

Hinata walked around and restlessly examined his surroundings. He kept darting about deliriously, beside himself with curiosity, and it was quite impossible to move him along.

Eventually, he reached a large, dome-like building. Curious as to who lived here, he casually stepped inside.

At the door, a man standing behind a desk stopped him from progressing. "Hey! Pay up before you go in!" He shouted.

Hinata looked at him, confused—that was the first time someone had asked for money for admission. He quickly caught on.

"Oh, right, that thing!" Hinata exclaimed. He fished into his sack to pull out a small bag with money—a gift from his mother as he left. He paid him a few coins before waltzing in.

And when he went in, he waited a few seconds, just observing, before he ran up and nearly threw himself off the balcony to see the amazing event happening in front of him.

On a surface with weird patterns, three people in red and three people in blue seemed to be having a fight with different elements.

Of course he knew different elements existed, but he had never seen it in action. He didn't know what was happening, but it was exciting to watch.

"Hey, hey, what're they doing? Why are they fighting?" Hinata asked strangers beside him.

The woman beside him laughed. "Do you really not know? They're pro-bending. That's the genius waterbender, Oikawa Tooru right there—and boy, is he easy on the eyes—on the blue team. His skilled teammates are Iwaizumi Hajime and the 'King of the Arena' Kageyama Tobio." She rolled her eyes at the last one.

Hinata's eyes glittered. King of the Arena?! Wasn't that a super cool nickname?!

He watched the three. Sure, they were all great, but his admiration was especially focused on the 'King of the Arena', Kageyama. He was entranced by the way he was able to control fire as if it wasn't fire, but mere extensions of his body. Flames whipped and lashed and connected to his limbs as he shot them left and right. The way his leg would swing in an arc, leaving a rainbow of fire flying at the enemy. Lethal but graceful.

It was amazing to watch.

The King of the Arena kept yelling at his other teammates, who helped each other, but weren't helping him at all at this point. It was no surprise when he took a dive off the back of the arena.

In time, with one member down, his two teammates followed suit into the water.

What bad sportsmanship! If they'd helped Kageyama, they would've had a chance! Hinata thought, frowning.

The announcer said some words after, but Hinata didn't listen. He ran out of the building and waited for Kageyama at the only exit. Tilit wasn't there—probably went off to a less crowded area. No big deal, they'd find each other in time.

As expected, Kageyama crossed him. He looked different without all the pro-bending gear, but Hinata could still tell by the kinda-angry look in his eyes, the frown on his face and the stomping of his feet.

"Hey! You're the King of the Arena, right?" Hinata asked pleasantly, trailing behind Kageyama's fury.

Kageyama turned and glared at him, a shadow passing his face as he had to look down to see the short airbender. "Don't call me that." He hissed.

Hinata backed up, a bit scared. But then cocked his head. "Why not? It's a cool name! Doesn't it mean how strong you are? I mean, you must be, like, super pro if you—"

"No, it  _doesn't_." Kageyama glared. He was seething. Hinata was confused.

"Wait, if it doesn't mean you're strong, why are you called…"

"Listen, what do you  _want?_ " Kageyama asked. If Hinata had been any better at reading situations, he would've gone up and far away from the firebender. But he wasn't.

"Well, I wanna—" Hinata cut himself off as his attention span flew to the two people leaving the arena. "It's your teammates! Let's go talk to them."

" _No_." Kageyama said, gripping Hinata's skull in a death grip to prevent him from running over to them, and physically steered his orange head back to him.

"Ow, ow, ow…" Hinata complained. Kageyama let go, and Hinata rubbed it. "Why not? Teammates are supposed to talk to each other. Well, they weren't very good teammates, but…"

"Don't you  _get it_?" Kageyama looked back at the boy. If looks could kill, Hinata would have been sliced, diced, breaded, fried, burnt and then eaten. Kageyama thought about making his thoughts a reality. "I was  _kicked out._ "

"Oh…" Hinata said, staying in spot as Kageyama stormed away. After a few seconds of connecting the dots, he ran to catch up. "Well, that sucks, but they weren't good anyway! Totally abandoned you! So, how about you join up with me? We could do a combi or something! Doesn't that sound great?"

Kageyama continued to plow forward, making a walking path with his glare. "Are you  _kidding_? What are you, eleven? What's a combi, anyway?"

Hinata got this a lot. "Actually, I'm fifteen!" He said, frowning. "And a combi is a  _combination!_  So, like, a team!"

Kageyama stopped in his tracks for a mere second. He was almost his age, but Hinata reached up to his chin. Maybe even less, if Hinata's hair was taller than Kageyama thought. After a few seconds in awe, he kept going.

"Hey, were you listening? We could partner up, or something! Wouldn't that be great?" Hinata asked. Kageyama grimaced at the prospect of working with this… idiot. The word 'amateur' was written all over his face.

" _No._ " Kageyama emphasized.

Hinata frowned. "Why not?! Wouldn't it be super cool?! We could bend together, and you can go FWOOOOOOM, SHAAA!" Hinata said, pseudo-imitating a martial arts firebending move that looked suspiciously like Kamehameha. "And I could, too! I'd be all like,  _fwoosh!_ "

"Do you ever  _shut up?!_ " Kageyama shouted, letting his anger win. He swung an arm at the boy as a signal to back off. He didn't think his firebending would accompany it. "Wait, shit—"

He had gotten kicked out of his pro-bending group, had a pestering midget following him, and didn't know where to go—and jail was probably not the best place. One thing he didn't want to become that day was a murderer.

Hinata stared at the fire coming at him in shock. He created a mini-tornado around him, where the fire flew around in circles until it turned into nothing but small flames, and then extinguished itself, along with Kageyama's anger. Hinata looked a bit frightened, but then shifted to shock, then to anger.

"You're an airbender." Kageyama said in awe.

"What was that for?!" Hinata shouted (glaring, though it wasn't exactly as threatening, coming from someone so short).

"Wait, which temple are you from? Why are you here?" Kageyama suddenly took a lot more of an interest in the airbender now that he  _knew_  he was an airbender.

"Um… I'm from the Southern Temple... I'm here to see the world." Hinata said, hesitantly, though his nature didn't allow him to stay mad for too long.

"Then why—"  _Do you want to be in a team with me?_ Kageyama was about to retort, since most pro-bending took place in Republic City. But… being with him wouldn't be so bad, and having an airbender in a team was pretty rare. They didn't even have pro-bending rules for airbenders. Kageyama was also thinking of going to places to train, and he didn't want to anchor himself to this one city. He thought for a moment. "Alright," Kageyama finally agreed. "There's a tournament downtown. If you win, we can join up. But on one condition."

Hinata had completely forgotten about nearly being burned to death at the prospect of being able to work with the King of the Arena. "What is it?"

" _I'm_  in charge."

* * *

When they got to the tournament, Hinata was supposed to be versing a firebender. Kageyama took a seat in the stands, having decided  _not_  to participate in tournaments right after getting kicked off of the team. Instead, he resigned to watching his possible comrade.

Despite all of Hinata's internal pep-talks, he was faced with a queasy stomach, wobbly legs, a ridiculously tall, bespectacled firebender, people, people, people, and… a lot of people.

As he tried to swallow down his unease, he felt like he was swallowing back down his Adam's apple he was about to barf up.

"And the match begins!" The announcer called, but Hinata didn't hear him. He was still focused on the looming glare of the arena, and how it seemed to be expanding. He was only aware the match was starting as the firebender sent a decently large amount of flames at him that he barely managed to dodge.

"W-Wait, did we start?" Hinata whimpered, rolling away from the firebender's second attack.

"And… well, this guy knows when we have a newbie bending, that's for sure. He's relentless!"

Hinata shrieked as he followed instructions he learned as a kid—stop, drop, and roll. He began his barrel imitation, trying to leave the fire in the dust below him. It worked, but as he stopped to sigh in relief at no longer having his ass on fire, one hit the ground right beside his nose.

He jumped backwards, shrieking. The guy continued to send attacks at him, but Hinata simply dodged all bullets.

The people in the stands, who were originally excited for the match, quickly became bored at the lack of action. They booed, and some people threw things at the poor airbender.

So between dodging falling items and fire, Hinata was having a difficult time.

Hinata pulled out his staff and swung, creating a gust of wind in defense. The firebender covered his face with his forearms, thinking it would be a huge, gale-force wind, but the gust of wind was the type you'd get on a normal autumn day.

His opponent quickly made an arc in the air with his foot, fire trailing the tips of his toes and heading at Hinata. After his landing, he made two punching motions with both hands, which, in total, caused three fireballs to head towards Hinata. There would be no dodging, considering their size.

Hinata panicked, took a breath, and then panicked some more. He got into a typical airbender stance, staff rested at his side, being held up by both hands, facing his opponent with his right hand forward, but not clutching it very tightly. He let go of the staff with his left hand. The staff dipped down towards the ground, creating a parabola. His left hand reached towards the same end once the end of the staff was in front. Once his left hand gripped it, he rolled the staff down from his right hand to the angle inbetween his forearm and then he spun in a circle.

While there was supposed to be consistent air blasting all the way through, it seemed to save until the end with one powerful blast. This consequently caused an unexpected blast of air which not only hit the firebender close to the edge, but had enough force to knock the airbender backwards and out of the stadium.

Kageyama slapped his forehead while everyone around him cheered at the end of the boring match.

Kageyama had assessed him very realistically.

_He's weak and a coward.  
_

* * *

Kageyama walked away from the airbender that was following.

"What have you been  _doing_  these past years?!" Kageyama scolded.

"Well, I've been working on airbending, obviously… I didn't think I'd need to use it in battle, though! C'mon, give me another shot! That was my first try! I was just getting warmed up!" Hinata insisted.

"Why do you even want to bend competitively when you can't  _bend?!_ " Kageyama scolded.

"I  _can_ bend! I want to be a firebender, just like the Small Giant!" Hinata said enthusiastically.

Kageyama stared at him for a moment. He thought Hinata was joking, but Hinata's face only displayed how incredibly naïve he was. "You can't."

"Oh yeah? You just watch." Hinata said, challenging him.

"How stupid are you?! I meant you literally can't. People only bend  _one element_. I bend fire. You bend air." Kageyama said, stopping for a moment to show him a flame in his hand. He extinguished it by throwing it on the ground, and continued moving forward.

Hinata stood there, in a kind of 'Oh' moment. "But… but I heard a bunch of stories about people learning all  _four_ elements! I wanna do that, too."

Closing his eyes to try and calm himself, Kageyama pivoted to yell directly at the brown-eyed boy. "You'd have to be the  _Avatar_  to do that! And there's only  _one_  Avatar per generation."

"Then I'll be the Avatar!" Hinata cheered. Kageyama felt his hands heat up.

"You can't  _be_  the Avatar. You're  _born_  the Avatar. And unless you know more than one element, you're  _not the Avatar._  You're way too weak to be Avatar, anyway!"

Hinata bit his lip. "Say that when I beat you! I'll be the last one standing!"

Kageyama looked surprised for a moment (a hot-tempered airbender? Weren't they supposed to be pacifists?), but then frowned. "If you want to be the last one standing, become st—"

Kageyama was cut off by the sound of crashing glass in a street nearby. He ran to check it out, disregarding his annoying follower who created a ball of circulating air under him to move faster.

When they arrived at the scene of the crime, Kageyama clicked his tongue. "Thugs."

They weren't people they knew, just random strangers bullying a poor shopkeeper. Kageyama, who had (unfortunately) gotten involved by simply  _being_  there, watched as one of them came up to him.

"Do you have a  _problem?_ " He sneered, raising his hand and showing a small ball of fire in his palm as a threat.

"I do." Kageyama glared back at the guy.

"Then let's take a go, then." The guy smirked, and enlarged the fire. However, just as he showed it, a strong gust of wind blew it back in his face, singing off his eyebrows and darkening his face in soot before he blasted the rest up.

Kageyama was surprised. He looked over at Hinata, who had his staff pointed out towards the bandit.

The other thugs looked away from their victim, over to their partner who had neatly gotten his hair removed, and then to the barbers, Hinata and Kageyama.

Kageyama knew what this entailed. He created the same ball of fire in his hand. "Do it again!" He shouted.

"To you?" Hinata asked, perplexed at Kageyama's sudden interest in burning himself.

"To  _them,_  you idiot!" Kageyama scolded. Hinata thrust out his palm, which set out the same gust of wind enhancing Kageyama's fire, successfully causing the thugs to back off.

"Tch, whatever. Let's beat it. This guy needs a hero, anyway." The ringleader said, kicking the poor shopkeeper. But before they left, the ringleader smirked. "Oh, right, you're the King of the Arena! Good job on your match today, lo—"

Before he could finish, Kageyama sent an inferno in his direction, which sent them running.

"Yeah! We did it!" Hinata said, on his ball of air again, fist raised in the air enthusiastically. Kageyama looked back at him, but didn't look happy or angry. He was simply staring at the boy.

Kageyama then came to a decision. He walked straight past Hinata.

"Wh-Wait, where are you going?" Hinata asked, following him again.

"I'm going to the Water Tribes. They say that the Dragon of the West perfected bending lightning while he was studying waterbenders." Kageyama said.

Hinata's brain connected the dots. Kageyama didn't tell him  _not_  to come… and Kageyama wouldn't have told him where he was going if he  _didn't_  want him to come…

"I know a faster way there!" Hinata exclaimed. He dropped down from his sphere of air and fished a whistle out of his pocket and blew it. It made no sound.

Kageyama glared at the few seconds wasted. Of course it was broken.

"Where're you going—oh, there he is!" Hinata grinned as a giant flying bison hailed from the sky, heading straight towards the two.

He landed softly, considering his size. He bent down so Hinata could pat his head. The bison moved his head slowly to Kageyama, who had his eyebrows furrowed in intimidation. The bison yawned, and continued to adore Hinata.

"Well? Get on!" Hinata smiled, hopping onto the bison's head. Kageyama reluctantly climbed up the bison's back and took a seat. "Alright then, let's go, Tilit!"

The bison gave another groan as it took to the air. Kageyama clung onto the matted, thick fur. "It's North." He directed. The more prominent waterbenders were from the North, at least.

"You hear that, Tilit? Go… uh, to the left and keep going!" Hinata instructed. The beast followed his instructions.

Along the flight, Hinata looked back at Kageyama. "Right! Since I can't be the best bender ever, I'll settle for being the best  _airbender_  ever!"

Kageyama's only reply to that was, "Don't get cocky."

" _You're_  the cocky one!"


	2. but not obvious

To summarize the Northern Water Tribe in one word, it was cold. It was also considerably laborious to plow through knee-deep snow (or for the other guy there, _thigh_ -deep) for _over two days._ It wasn’t like _they_ had a trusty flying bison with them.

Of course, we are not following the story of Hinata and Kageyama right now.

The shorter of the two gave a loud sneeze. “Why the hell is it so god damn cold?!” He shouted as loud as he could, exercising his face muscles so they wouldn’t freeze in place.

“Yeah! Why don’t you just make a fire or something, Noya?” His friend asked. While his friend was also considerably cold, he was able to brave through it.

“I’d love to,” He muttered. “Only problem is that if I take these gloves off, my hands’ll freeze in seconds. Plus, I can’t bend in the cold.” He gave another sneeze.

“I think you’re _catching_ a cold.” The taller one admitted.

“No, really? I think this weather’s _just_ like home, and—of course I’m catching a cold, Ryuu!” Noya snapped. Ryuu backed away. He was _not_ used to seeing his best friend in such a morose manner. Normally, he would shrug most hardships off, but the cold was _really_ getting to him.

“At least it has one thing in common.” Ryuu noted.

Noya couldn’t see it. “And what is that.”

“The amount of nothing.” The snow did resemble sand, in a way—it blew, and you couldn’t see anything no matter what direction you looked at.

Noya didn’t respond. It wasn’t something getting mad over, but he wasn’t exactly in the mood to be humoured. So they continued in silence.

_This sucks._ Noya thought. He hated everything cold even _before_ deciding to go to the Northern Water Tribe. He hated everything about it, and he hadn’t planned it at all. He didn’t agonize over the weather or decide to bring extra heating pads or gloves or scarves or anything.

And now he was paying the price. The hail mixed in the snow pelleted his face like knives. Like fucking _knives_ , and he couldn’t do anything but hope they were only a few miles away from the tribe and just couldn’t see anything because of the hail.

It _had_ to be a frozen wasteland. It had to. Couldn’t have been a nice spring oasis or anything, right? God damn waterbenders.

Noya was starting to reach the limit of his stamina, too. Just as he was about to ask Ryuu to make shelter for the night, Ryuu shouted, “Noya! I think I see something!”

Noya’s line of vision darted up. He caught sight of what he was talking about, and either they were _both_ hallucinating or… or something was actually there. “Ryuu! Ryuu, I think that’s it!”

With a newfound burst of energy, the two began sprinting towards whatever they saw. Both of the boys whooped when they made out houses in the snow. Had it been warm enough to render Noya capable of using his firebending skills, he would’ve set off fireworks.

Because something was there—thank God, something was there.

As a result from the unexpected screaming out in a blizzard, the two boys saw two colossal figures come out of one of the houses. 

Both Noya and Ryuu ran towards the house, whopping and screaming in delight, using newfound stamina. It could’ve been the adrenaline, it could’ve been the excitement.

However, the moment they saw the face of the larger figure of the two, they began to run in the opposite direction, still screaming.

* * *

 

Luckily for Noya and Ryuu, the Water Tribe was still incredibly hospitable, and they _weren’t_ left to freeze to death in the cold. Which was a good thing.

Noya gave a hearty laugh. The heat inside the house seemed to melt away his previous sullen mien. “Seriously, Asahi—am I right? You seriously scared us!”

Ryuu nodded in agreement. “Yeah! I thought it was like one of those things—a _yeti_!” They both nodded at each other, having come to a mutual conclusion.

Asahi himself seemed a bit disheartened at this, and was hunched over as though he’d been shot with arrows. He perked up with his hands opened towards them and explained. “I was just finished taking a shower!”

The guy beside him laughed a bit. “So, we’ve introduced ourselves already—Sugawara Koushi and Azumane Asahi—who are you two? And what’re you doing up here?”

“Tanaka Ryuunosuke!” He exclaimed.

“Nishinoya Yuu!” The other said.

“We’re the Ultimate Pro-Bending Team!” They said in unison, with their backs pressed against each other. Tanaka had his arms crossed and Nishinoya put a thumb up, both in a faux-macho manner. Then they both slumped.

“At least, we _want_ to be…” Nishinoya sighed.

Tanaka shook his head vigorously. “It’ll happen! It’ll definitely happen!”

“Yeah! You’re right, Ryuu!” Nishinoya agreed. He looked over at the two Water Tribe members. “That’s actually why we’re here, y’see—we need a water bender for our pro-bending team!”

“Oh, so you can bend!” Sugawara exclaimed, both surprised and with his traditional smile.

Tanaka pointed at himself with his thumb. “I’m an earthbender!” He switched from his thumb to his pointer finger and directed it towards Nishinoya. “He’s a firebender!”

Sugawara’s eyes widened a fraction. “That makes you the second firebender to come to the Tribe as of recently.”

Tanaka and Nishinoya raised their eyebrows. “Really? Who is he? Maybe Noya knows him!” Tanaka exclaimed.

As if on cue, a large amount of steam and water seeped through the curtain beside them, accompanying a blast of heat. A few seconds after, a boy with messy orange hair walked through the doorway, wearing an airbender ensemble.

“Um… Sugawara… the water evaporated… again.” Hinata complained while slouching, as if to apologize through his body language.

Sugawara and Azumane both sighed, knowing all too well that Kageyama got a bit too ‘fired up’, more literally than figuratively—though in all honesty, both would’ve lead to the same result.

* * *

 

When Kageyama and Hinata had finally finished their bath, everyone had gathered near the fireplace, the only place _everyone_ was comfortable with.

After Sugawara finished explaining the situation (Nishinoya and Tanaka’s to Hinata and Kageyama, and vice-versa), Hinata had stars in his eyes. “That’s so _cool!_ See, Kageyama? They’re pro benders! Kinda like you!”

“Kageyama Tobio. Kageyama Tobio.” Tanaka repeated his mantra in an attempt to decipher the name. “Nope, never heard of it.”

Kageyama took a sharp breath in. “Oh.” He replied, with a slightly miffed expression.

“Your face is scary.” Hinata claimed.

“I was _born_ with this face!” Kageyama snapped, swiping at Hinata.

Sugawara thought of stopping their banter, but resigned to simply enjoying their interaction. Even if it was violent, no one really got hurt. Still, he had to bring them back to the original topic.

Sugawara coughed lightly, which had the same effect as a jury’s mallet hitting wood. “In any case. We don’t know how much food we can spare while keeping you guys hidden, but Asahi and I’ll try our best. And with the waterbending thing, too.” He directed the last bit to Kageyama.

“Yes.” Kageyama curtly nodded in his usual style that imitated the military more than casual respect.

“Wait, what? Kageyama? _You’re_ learning how to waterbend?” Tanaka asked, his jaw dropping. His eyebrow scrunched up. “Are you, like, the Avatar or something?”

Kageyama frowned, shifting on the fur carpet. He gave his usual lengthy response, “No.”

“Then why are you learning how to waterbend?” Nishinoya chimed in, out of genuine curiosity. If it was interesting enough, maybe he should learn it, too.

“They say that the Dragon of the West perfected bending lightning while he was studying waterbenders.” Kageyama replied.

Nishinoya and Tanaka’s eyes both lit up at the same time as they practically jumped on him. “ _Lightning?!_ ”

Both of the boys were enamored at the prospect of Nishinoya bending _lightning._ It would be bright and go, like, zap zap and stuff.

“When do we start?” Nishinoya said, looking as though he was ready to unpack everything from his bag.

“Weren’t you here to find a waterbender—” Asahi tried reasoning, but Nishinoya interrupted.

“Yeah, but waterbender later, _lightning_ first!”

* * *

 

Hinata watched the waterbender guide them through their daily exercises. Sugawara would have his legs spread apart and would switch his movements from slow and steady to fast and sharp within seconds, but would never change in how _smooth_ they were.

As expected, only one stream of water moved along to the trio, as only one person was a waterbender.

Tanaka came in halfway through the exercises, glanced in, and was about to walk out when he spotted Hinata.

“What’re you doing here?” Tanaka asked, furrowing his eyebrows.

“Um… I’m waiting for Kageyama.”

Tanaka sighed. “You don’t have to wait here, you know. You could do other things. I went through town to get groceries today, and spotted the _hottest girl._ Well, actually she looked pretty cold. Hard to be hot with the weather here, but you know what I mean!”

Hinata nodded, not knowing what he meant. “Yeah, I think I’m going to stay here a bit longer. Thanks anyway.”

Tanaka shrugged, with a _you-do-you_ mentality, and left.

Hinata had declined because watching Kageyama try waterbending was enthralling, for some reason. Seeing his normally stiff demeanor supressed as he attempted to learn the ways of the water was interesting. He was so into it, too. Closing his eyes, imitating Sugawara’s breathing patterns, shifting his feet on the wood.

Nishinoya, on the other hand, seemed at the end of his rope. Instead of being calm, he looked on the verge of just throwing fireworks for no other reason than because he’d been serene too long. He’d constantly open an eye and check what Sugawara and Kageyama were doing. Nishinoya had taken the first few days seriously, but grew impatient after seeing no result.

And while Kageyama took practice very seriously _during_ practice, Hinata could also feel Kageyama’s annoyance at the lack of improvement after. He could read it on his face and see it in the way he’d stab his food at dinner.

Seeing the odd silence at the table, Sugawara set down his fork and looked over at Azumane. “Hey, Asahi. Maybe we should go visit the pond. We could go fishing or ice skating. Wouldn’t that be fun?”

“Oh, yeah! Sounds like a good idea!” He agreed, feeling the tension at the table.

None of the tension came from Hinata. “I’ve never gone fishing _or_ ice skating. Is it fun?”

Sugawara laughed, as though he were thinking about an inside joke. “Oh, yeah. Loads! Asahi, I and Dai—er, our friend used to go there all the time. We haven’t been able to recently though, since… well, we just haven’t really thought of it, with you guys here.”

Though Hinata had never gone ice skating or fishing (it was rather hard when you were always up in the sky), he had heard stories of it. Fishing had sounded a little brutal—baiting fish with what they thought was free food only to make _them_ free food—but ice skating sounded fun. Gliding across frozen water. It sounded graceful, somehow.

“When’re we going?” Hinata asked.

* * *

 

Unlike when Nishinoya and Tanaka had come to the tribe, the snow fell gently, as though pushed by an emperor’s hand fan.

It wasn’t even that far from Sugawara and Azumane’s place, either. Only a small five to ten minute walk.

The snow was so high that it passed the edge of Hinata’s boots and traces of the cold slipped past his leather and met his bare skin. Though it had slightly annoyed him, his irritation was swept away when he saw the lake.

It wasn’t a sight he would have ever encountered if he’d stayed with the Northern Air Nomads. It was something that could only be experienced at that exact place, at that exact time.

The snow was blinding, but the ice rested his eyes. It just glistened, letting the sun bounce off of stray flakes that had blown onto the lake.

“So, it should be pretty sturdy, but we’ve had some incidents.” Sugawara said.

Hinata spread his arms out wide and ignored Sugawara’s warnings. Letting out a small noise, he ran onto the ice. He hadn’t expected the lack of friction, and almost immediately fell.

“What’re you do—whoa.” Kageyama was about to scold Hinata for falling flat on his ass for no reason, but had to collect _himself_ from falling as he imitated the running man before steadying himself.

“What’s the big deal?” Nishinoya asked. He was slightly surprised when he took a step onto the slippery surface, but then his face lit up and he started gliding. “Ryuu, this is _sick!_ ”

Tanaka, who had at least _heard_ of ice before, took caution while stepping onto it. He seemed to march along the ice more than glide, true to his strong earth nature, but stayed safe.

Hinata was trying to balance himself, Nishinoya was running and then gliding, Tanaka was stomping on the ice. The things that Sugawara expected.

Kageyama, not wanting to make a fool of himself by slipping around on the ice like a newborn baby trying to walk, stepped back onto the snow. Sugawara began to complain until Kageyama brought up the argument of ‘well, Azumane’s not going on,’ which directed the attention to Asahi.

“Asahi, why aren’t you going on?” Sugawara asked, turning to him.

Asahi looked at the ice wistfully, as he _did_ find the ice enjoyable, but then looked away from Sugawara with a panicked expression. “There are three people on the ice. Could be four, if you go on or if Kageyama gets back on. I’ll be so heavy that it breaks. Or I’ll knock everyone down while sliding. Or…”

Sugawara kept his lips tight as Asahi spoke, and shoved him onto the ice when he was finished with hearing his insecurities.

“C’mon, Asahi! Make sure they don’t die.” Sugawara said, easing Asahi’s tension. Asahi walked normally on the ice—as though it were just normal ground—over to the others.

Their fun continued for about an hour. Then, while finally getting accustomed to the ice, Hinata had glided and spun over to the edge of their makeshift ice rink and scooped up a wad of snow.

While he was forming the snowball, his intentions were relatively pure-hearted. He had thought, _I’ll hit Sugawara in the back to get him to join us!_

Rearing his arm back, he dramatically pushed his body forward to give the snowball enough power to make it to its destination. As he propelled the snowball, he slipped forward and tripped, sending the snowball in a nearby path.

Kageyama’s head was knocked sideways against the force of the snow. Hinata, thoroughly terrified, backed up as Kageyama overcame his dislike—and lack of balance—on the ice to storm over to Hinata. Hinata already felt the temperature in the area rise.

“S-Sorry! I’m sorry, I’m sorry, ohmygodi’msosorrydon’tkillmekageyama—” Hinata couldn’t finish his sentence since Kageyama had sent the first fireball toward him. The ice below Hinata began to melt.

The first hairline crack appeared below Hinata, giving an unheard crack.

They finally noticed it when Kageyama stomped forward and the small cracks in the ice became highly noticeable with an audible cracking sound as it spread across the formerly glittering lake.

Kageyama’s anger quickly dissipated, but it was replaced with shock and worry.

Sugawara attempted to scream, “Don’t move!” to the two, but Hinata had already tried getting away by shifting his weight and breaking the ice.

Nishinoya and Tanaka’s heads whirled with thoughts of, _How can I save him?_ And _The water just broke_. Sugawara stared in shock for a minute, but then he ran over to the ice.

The person who moved first to change the situation was, unexpectedly, Azumane. The second Hinata fell in, he ran towards the hole without giving it a second thought—or even registering the situation—and raised his arms up in a single, swift and powerful motion. The water and ice exploded upwards, with the small broken hole as the focal point. Hinata blasted upwards.

The wind seemed to push him towards safety in a sudden change of wind ( _probably caused by Hinata,_ Kageyama thought), but Kageyama could’ve sworn he sensed something off with Hinata as he glided down.

The landing was terrible as Hinata plowed headfirst into the snow, but a few seconds later he popped out and yelled, “It’s freezing!”

However, Azumane _knew_ something was wrong.

“You’re not even wet…!” Nishinoya marvelled. “Good job, Asahi!”

Azumane knew that he probably couldn’t get rid of the water like that, but Sugawara was looking at Azumane with an expression that read, ‘Thank god. Good job.’

And though Nishinoya and Tanaka were yelling at him, shouting about how he’d make a great third member of their pro-bending group and practically _begging_ him to join, he had other thoughts on his mind.

It wasn’t Sugawara.

It wasn’t him.

So then… why didn’t Hinata have a drop of water on his head?

* * *

 

For the first time in a while, Kageyama felt a bit of guilt.

Even though everything had turned out fine, and he probably shouldn’t have thought more about it, but if Hinata had died, his blood would’ve been on _his_ hands.

It was obviously the fireball that had melted the ice, and almost lead to Hinata’s death.

Hinata was by the lake again when Kageyama had finished his search for him.

“Hinata.” Kageyama said. Hinata looked over at him. He didn’t look angry, but he wasn’t too happy with Kageyama, either.

Kageyama took a seat next to him. He cupped his hands together and put them against his face, breathing hot air into them. Hinata was poking at the hole he’d almost died in, drawing shapes in the water.

“Isn’t that cold?” Kageyama asked in a muffled tone. His hands were still around his mouth.

“Kinda.” Hinata replied.

They sat in silence after that, as Kageyama formulated ways to apologize to Hinata. Deciding to screw it all, he hesitantly began to say. “A-About earlier… I’m so—…”

It was turning out harder than he’d expected to apologize. “Sor… So… Sorr…” In one go, with a tone fast and sharp, he burst out, “Sorry.”

Hinata awkwardly stayed silent for a few seconds, making Kageyama feel even worse. _I finally apologized to the idiot, can’t he at_ least _say something?!_

“Everything worked out, so it’s fine.” Hinata replied. After the pause, Hinata abruptly said, “Anyway, you’re terrible at apologizing!”

Kageyama frowned. “What?!”

Hinata imitated Kageyama’s glare. “I’m sor… sor… sorr…”

Kageyama swiped at him, but Hinata leaned back to dodge the blow. Kageyama didn’t try again, and just sulked.

“Oh yeah! Kageyama, I wanna show you something!” Hinata said. Kageyama pulled his hands away from his face to have a better look at Hinata, but what he saw definitely caught him off guard.

Almost completely controlled, a rippling blue ribbon spun about, allowing a few stray drops to splatter on the snow. Hinata had his palms facing upwards as though he were carrying it himself. He shifted their positions and looked over at Kageyama, still keeping it up in the air by whirling it into a ball.

Kageyama stared at Hinata, just thinking _how how how what the_ fuck _there is no freaking way_ —

“It looks like I can waterbend.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so yeah it looks like i decided to continue it after, what, half a year? because NEW YEAR NEW ME HAHA
> 
> jk that's not how it works but who cares. just enjoy the chapter.
> 
> oh, and happy new years. 
> 
> again, this is also really fun to write.

**Author's Note:**

> a little side-project i wanted to do because of a thing i read from the 'imagine the haikyuu kids' tumblr page of an avatar the last airbender/legend of korra/haikyuu crossover. uses some of the headcanons but switched a lot of things up.
> 
> i'm still trying to get used to the characters so go easy on me there haha
> 
> looks like i decided to continue it. 
> 
> anyway, i appreciate constructive criticism and theories on what'll happen so feel free to leave a review or whatever. idk when updates will be but now that i've completely decided to continue it, just expect one to come out.
> 
> ~bisque_doll


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